Tuesday evening saw game 1 of the NLCS and a distinctly different atmosphere. The previous game’s overcast skies and ominous rain clouds had lifted. The sun was out. It was as if an evil presence had been banished from the city. It was Time To Shine.
The Phillies were here to challenge for the National League title. They were fresh off defeating the reigning World Champions to advance to the NLCS. The Padres and Phillies do not have a rivalry per se, but their season series had included the unfortunate injury to Bryce Harper when he was hit by a Blake Snell fastball during a mid-season matchup. The all-world slugger Harper had ultimately missed several weeks with a fracture in his hand, but was back now and swinging the bat as well as anyone in baseball, helping to put away the Braves Saturday with a thundering home run. Bryce Harper seeking revenge against the Padres was an under-discussed storyline.
There was something else deserving of attention, the Padres were betting favorites to advance to the World Series. This was an unprecedented position for the Padres to be in. In 1998 they got past the ‘the best team to not win the World Series’, the Braves, winners of a franchise best 106 games, featuring Maddux, Smoltz, and Glavine among the rest of a star studded lineup, to advance to the World Series. The role of underdog had been a familiar and comfortable one. Now they were supposed overdogs, and some in the community had taken to acting like it:
This mural was commissioned with the intent of capturing the competitive spirit rallying the community. But it didn’t hit its mark for a number of reasons. First, the San Diego chicken isn’t really the Padres mascot. It held a much higher place in the City’s identity in the 1980’s and since then has faded into a relic of a bygone era. The choice of a mascot who’s heyday was 35 years ago didn’t quite capture the moment. Second, no one really wants anything bad to happen to the Philly Phanatic. The Phanatic is the most famous mascot in baseball and however you feel about beating the Phillies, that just doesn’t manifest as curb stomping the Phanatic. Third, and most importantly, it comes across as arrogant. Specifically arrogance due to excessive pride. Hubris. We all felt that we had reached the tallest mountain after felling the greatest regular season team of all-time. The murals have been an inspired part of the season’s lore, but this turn reeked of going too far. To the organization’s credit they recognized that the mural had elicited the wrong response and had failed to capture the Padres spirit, and it was painted over before gametime. But not before the Philadelphia fans took notice.
A far more heinous act was uncovered, ironically, by an ostensibly Padres friendly media source when KUSI’s Good Morning San Diego ran a feature on a group of seven “Padres fans” who had written a “hip hop tribute” to the Padres.
Padres fans were traumatized all morning leading up to the game as this video was circulated worldwide. If you watch the video once you won’t need us to describe the elements that make it unacceptable. Our reaction was a mix between indescribable frustration, and a desperate longing for this to be uncovered as a bitter Dodger fan’s false flag operation. On first glance the “hip hop” crew all appeared to be wearing regalia that was new, and could easily have been purchased yesterday. On further scrutiny, however, we noted that the “artist” in the back right seems to be wearing a vintage orange lettered Padres hat with a bent bill, an indication of long time use, the hallmark of a true fan. Though it’s possible he just borrowed it (keeping the threadbare hope that this is a false flag operation alive).
Padres fandom wore bullet riddled shoes today.
Come gametime, Yu Darvish took the mound for the Padres, and started out with a walk to lead off hitter Kyle Schwarber who’s combination of incredible power and lack of speed make him the league’s most unusual leadoff hitter. Darvish battled back and got the next two outs, bringing Bryce Harper up to bat with the first chance to seek revenge. With Schwarber now advanced to third, Harper hit a screaming banshee of a line drive to shallow right field, where Jake Cronenworth made one of the best plays you will ever see. Watch the video below, it might be the last time you see a stop like that as the shift is to be banned next year:
The offense for both teams was rather quiet today. The Padres couldn’t break through in their early chances against ace Zack Wheeler who was dealing.
In the 4th the Phillies struck, Bryce Harper enacted revenge with an unusual home run. The pitch by Darvish was outside, and off the bat it looked like the type of deep fly ball that Petco usually holds. But it kept carrying and carrying until it fell just out of Jurickson Profar’s reach into the first row of the left field stands. Even Harper appeared surprised.
For a mere mortal that would have been an out. But the strength of the legendary left hander was on full display and a ball that he did not hit particularly well became the first run of the game.
The Padres couldn’t answer and the score was 1-0 going into the sixth. Kyle Schwarber made it 2-0 with the most mammoth home run in the stadium’s history. A rocket 119.7 MPH off the bat that reached the second deck in right field travelling a record 488 feet. It was the second longest home run in the post-season during the statcast era, by 3 feet. Supposedly David Ortiz once took batting practice in Petco with a metal bat and still never hit one that far.
That was it for the offense. Yu Darvish ultimately pitched a tremendous game going seven innings with only the two runs allowed on the two solo home runs, and 3 hits total, striking out 7 in the process. But Darvish’s great performance was out done by Zack Wheeler who was magnificent, allowing only one hit and no runs across seven innings while striking out 8. Any remaining critics of the large contract the Phillies handed Wheeler three years ago likely were silenced for good after tonight. The Padres did fight back in the ninth. Profar walked, and after a Juan Soto dribbler was mishandled at second base, the Padres actually brought the winning run to the plate in the form of Manny Machado. But Machado flied out for the second out in the inning, and Josh Bell struck out in what looked like an uncompetitive at bat to end the game.
The Phillies out played the Padres but it was very close. Both of these teams are capable of going to the World Series, but only one will, and the Phillies are now the closer team to seeing that outcome.
This Padres team played like champions on one side of the ball. The offense was the difference today.
There are several theories making their way through Padres fan circles as to why the team seemed so listless at the plate:
Saturday’s win over the Dodgers was earth shattering. The postgame celebrations were as well. There may have been a little bit of lingering weariness as the Padres took the field again today. If that was the case, we can give them a pass. The Padres slayed the dragon. Accomplishing a feat like that takes everything you have. The exultation afterwards is well deserved. They’ve shown they can win even after spotting the opponents a game. But now it is do or die time. Going down 2-0 heading into 3 away games in Philly is a recipe for an exit.
Today the vibes were off. The Padres fandom briefly took on the cringe that defined the Mets downfall, and the arrogance that defined the Dodgers’. That is not what this team is about. This is not an overdog story. This is not the favorite. This team is embattled and has gotten this far recognizing that, and grinding out victories over lauded opponents. The Padres success has been a national story and the casual fanbase has started to take note. Ticket prices are way up, pricing out some dedicated fans. In our seats today the group of Padres fans behind us asked (more than once) ‘what does LFGSD stand for?’ The bandwagon is here, and all are most certainly welcome. But culture is a delicate thing, and it must be constantly nourished. It was encouraging that the chicken mural was quickly erased thanks to the outcry from dedicated fans. But it’s very likely that the hip hop video was created unironically.
We can only control so much. The outcomes of the games are in the hands of the players and the baseball Gods. But we can control the own-goals undermining the fan culture. We implore the fan base to not take on the persona of our vanquished foes. Keep the cringe in New York and the hubris in LA.
This last part shouldn’t need any explaining: LFGSD